After spending 7 years in the advertising industry, I started a media tech startup www.pitchnda.com . I write about startups, media tech and inspiration.

Oct 24

Female founders office hours — A blessing in disguise!

So what is this Female founders office hours(FFOH)? and why is it a blessing for fellow female founders?

An exclusive mentoring program designed to catalyze the success of female founders. A one-on-one mentoring session with female founders, VCs to get strategic advice, mentoring and support. The mentoring happens via phone, video call, in-person meeting or meetings at events in SF, LA, NYC, and Boston.

FFOH structures and addresses the process of female founders trying to get advice, mentoring. As otherwise, one would need to cold call or write cold e-mails, wait for months, attend multiple events and even after that one may not get any response.

One has to sign up to apply for office hours. Then FFOH team will match women based on stage & sector. Every mentor receives a list of possible mentees and selects a few to chat with. If selected, you’ll receive an email directly from your mentor to arrange a 45-minute mentoring session. Unfortunately, not everyone gets matched for a 1:1 because of a limited pool of mentors.

The first time I had applied there was no MVP. The second time, when I applied with a beta of PitchNDA, I got a positive response ❤ . There were more than 600 applicants and 200 were matched to relevant mentors. Felicia Curcuru, Jess Lee, Holly Liu and work of other mentors are having a positive impact on this growing community of confident women entrepreneurs who are not afraid to raise money for their startups. The change has begun.

1. Holly Liu 2. Jess lee 3.Felicia Curcuru

My first mentor is Susan Lyne, she is the mentor I need for my media startup. A 2011 Fortune feature described Lyne this way: “She’s worked with Rupert Murdoch, Martha Stewart, Jane Fonda, and Michael Eisner. She helped put Patty Hearst in jail and Desperate Housewives on the air.”

At present, she has dedicated herself to promote and invest in women entrepreneurs. Please do have a look at her venture BBG(#BuiltByGirls) quite evident that it focuses on startups lead by female founders. I am totally inspired by her, star struck and lot of her stories resonates with me. Looking forward to the first office hour with my guru!

I encourage fellow female founders who are looking for mentors, startup advice, funding and wanting to help fellow entrepreneurs. To apply at Female founder office hours, it is indeed a blessing in disguise!